The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 22, 1917, Page 12

v # he:Leader | information 2 men. '.Some Uses of Concrete on the Farm By A. L. Schroeder, Manual Training Dept., Perham Public Schools, Minn. ITH the rapid decrease of our timber supply and the result- ing increase in the price of lumber there has come a ne- cessary demand for a new building material. Nowhere has this demand been felt more keenly than on the American farm, where lumber, up to the last few years, has been the only building material. A building material however has been discovered in concrete that in many instances has proved to be far superior to lumber, on account of its durability, economy and safety from fire loss. " It has shown its worth as a substitute for wood because of its moderate cost, . ease with which it is handled and the wide distribution of sand, gravel and stone which enter into its composition. As a material for the construction of fence posts, concrete has not only very few of the disadvantages, and practic- ally all of the advantages of wooden posts, but is also superior to timber in some respects. 'In the first cost, concrete fence posts may be more or less expensive than the best wooden post according to the locality. This depends upon tke timber supply, the deposit of gravel and rock and the skill exercised by the person making the post. If concrete posts are cured for three months they are as good as the best wooden post. After three years service a wooden post possesses only one-third to one-half its original strength, whereas concrete grows stronger with age and needs no repair, for neither weather nor fire injure it. Under ordinary circumstances concrete posts will last forever, whereas the life of a wooden post is indefinite. Even if a few concrete posts are broken, it is easier to replace a few of these than to replace an entire fence of wooden posts. Concrete posts are at- _~ tractive in-appearance becaus. of tneir uniformity of siz&” and color and be= cause of their durability, they effect a saving in giving greater life to the fencing material used, so that the permanent value of the property is in- creased. COST OF MAKING POSTS So many elements enter into the matter of costs that no exact figure can be given. The prices of Iabor, molds, cement, sand and stone, gravel and reinforcement are not the same in any two sections of the country.. The cost of only two sizes of posts will be considered here. The heavy tri- angular, and the straight square post, each with a standard length of seven feet. The figures are based on the follow- ing data: A mixture of one part ce- ment, two parts sand, and four parts crushed rock and screened gravel; a reinforcement consisting of two No. 12 smooth fencing wire, twisted into a cable and cut to the necessary length, at the factory; concrete mixed by hand; all material delivered at the ‘work and all men and labor paid for. HEAVY TRIANGULAR POST No. Cost of per Material Cost posts post 1 yd. rock or gravel..$1.00 29 3%c I yd. sand ......... 1.00 68 1%c 1 barrel cement (4 ‘ sacks) .....e..... 1.00 18 8%o 8, 2-ply No. 12 cable 1% pounds @ ..... 2%c 1 4%c 2 men 1 hr. @ 20c per hr.; 1 boy 1 hr. @ 15c per hour... - bbc 5 1lc Total cost ..... SRR 29c STRAIGHT SQUARE POST No. Cost of per Material Cost posts post - 1 yd. rock & gravel.$1.00 25 4c 1 yd. sand ......... 100 50 2c 1. barrel cement (4 BACKS 6,015 0% sraielsle . 1.50 16 9%c 4, 2-ply No. 12 cable 21, pounds @..... 2%c 1 43¢ 2 men, one hr. @ 20c per hr; 1 boy, 1 hr. @ 15c per hour... 65¢ b 1ic Total cost ...... AR R YR VAL The cost of upkeep on wooden posts is much greater than is ordinarily sup- posed and their life time 1is limited, while concrete posts cost practically the same and will last a life time. The posts should be made with one Fence Posts and Feeding Floors That Have Many Advantages part Portland cement, two parts clean coarse sand and four parts broken stone, about one inch in diameter. Grease or oil the form and fill the bottom with concrete to the depth of one inch; upon which place immediately two pieces of reinforcement. Then quickly fill the form to within one inch of the top, tapping the concrete lightly to drive out air bubbles. Next place two more rods or wires within one inch of each side and fill in the rest of the form with concrete. The boards must not be removed until the concrete is hard, and the posts should not be handled or moved for at least ten days for there is danger of cracking them. They should be left three or four weeks before using. Using the above mixture one barrel (4 sacks) of cement will make 14 posts 7 feet long. On the concrete feeding floor every grain of feed gets where it belong—in- side the animals for which it is intended. This floor would have been better if a curb had been built around it so that grain could not be pushed off the floor while the hogs are feeding and to prevent them from rooting underneath. Concrete end posts braced like this need no further attention, once they are placed. NEED OF FEEDING FLOORS Some of the increased cost of living may be traced directly to the decreas- ing productivity of the soil. This con< dition has been largely brought about by delivering the harvested crop direct to the market and returning nothing to the soil. During the period of- cheap lands and grains, stock was allowed to run at large and was fed on any dry spot of land that was handy. ‘Whatevers the stock left on the ground was either thrown over the field or washed away by. the rain, However, from the present standpoint of high priced land and grain, such methods of feeding are too wasteful. Some of our more progressive farms«< ers in the early days, conceived the idea of making a feeding floor out of wood, but the attempt did not turn out to be very successful. The value of a feeding floor was long ago recognized. The difficulty has been to obtain a floor that would poss sess all of the necessary qualities with« out any of the accompanying disads vantages. Such a floor must save the fragments of feeds dropped upon its surface and keep them clean, so that the particles may be readily eaten. It must be capable of being easily cleaned and disinfected, so that it may never become dangerous to the health of the animals feeding from it. Its surface must be such that none of the mahure deposited upon it will be absorbed by, it. The cost of the floor must be mod« erate. - IDEAL USE FOR CONCRETE Concrete is most valuable for floor construction. Concrete floors are amoderate in first cost; they last fore ever. Their surface is such that they may be cleaned and disinfected with ease. Through their use the farm is free from muddy barn lots, the breed- ing places of disease, spreading gnats, flies ‘and mosquitoes. Rats and other destructive rodents can not find lodg= ing places under concrete floors. The saving of grain, of labor and of manure is so great to the feeder that concrete floors may pay for themselves in the short space of one year. ‘With the use of concrete floors the general appearance of the farm is im= proved, the disagreeableness of wading through mud and mire is done away with, and farm life in general is made more attractive. ' Profits on Irrigated Farms 1. The average farm labor income on the farms studied was $555. 2. The amount and the distribution of capital are factors that were found to have a big bearing upon labor incomes. As the amount of capital increased, labor incomes correspondingly increas- ed. 3. Farms that had a large percent- age of their capital tied up in real estate did not do as well as those that réserved an amount sufficient to ade- quately equip and operate their farms. 4. Farms whose land was valued at $100 per acre made better labor in- comes than those with either higher or a lower valuation. : The above statements are taken from a bulletin recently published by the Montana Experiment Station, entitled “Profits in Farming on Irrigated Areas in the Gallatin Valley.” One hundred and eighty-six farms were represented in this survey, and the results are taken _ from the business of these farms, for a complete fiscal year. The results shown by the survey compare very favorably with those found in similar surveys under general farming methods. It is® interesting to compare the average labor incomes of the farmers in this irrigated district with those of west central Minnesota who have a fair annual precipitation. An average of 52 farms in Ottertail County Minne- sota, the same year, showed a labor in- come of $304, where the soil is fairly light and the land somewhat rolling. In Clay county, where the land is level and the soil heavy, 56 farmers had an average labor income of $414. These figures compared with those in state- ment number 1 above, show quite a lit- tle in favor of the irrigated land. An average of 189 farms in South Dakota for the year ending April first 1916, shows a labor income of $2,114. It must be remembered however that this was an especially good year for small grain. ~ DEPENDS ON PRODUCTS It is true that there was quite a range in the profits made on the irri- gated farms and the degree of diver- sity appecrs to have a distinct bearing on the labor incomes. As the number of important sources of incomes in- creases, the labor income correspond- ingly increases. A farm with only two important enterprises is at a serious disadvantage in the matter of utiliz- ing labor throughout the year and in utilizing the by-products of the farm that would otherwise be wasted. The farms that sold a large percent- age of their marketable crops had a better ¢labor income than those that reserved a considérable portion for feed and seed. The more a farmer had of his cash crop the larger his labor in- come seemed to be. Peas and oats ap- pear to be the most profitable crops in this region, as thirty-nine farms with peas as their main crop had an average labor income of $855 and 44 oat farms an average labor income of $688. The poorest paying crops seem to be barley and hay. QUALITY A BIG FACTOR The data in the bulletin points con- clusively to the fact that the quality of crop production is one of the most important factors influencing the prof- its from farming in this region. Crop yield was also foundto be a very im- portant factor, as a small increase in yield brought imn-each case a substantial increase in labor income. It appears from the bulletin that the farms of this region are lightly stock- ed, the average farm lacking sufficient stock to utilize cheap feeds and waste TWELVE products. As the amount of stock on the farms increases, the average labor income increases, correspondingly, but at that the most heavily stocked farms in the region have only a moderate amount of stock. “The farms receiving a little lesg than one-third of their receipts from stock have a much better labor income than those that receive either more or less from that source.” The happy medium seems to be met where the farm has stock enough to utilize all cheap feeds and waste products but not so much as to require any consid- erable portion of their feeds to consist of those products which have a high market value. ) The average farm has 30 acres per productive animal unit. “Without a doubt this amount of stock is insuffi- cient to take care of the waste prod= ucts such as damaged hay and grain, pea straw, and other by-products of the farm which return no income un- less utilized in this way. It is safe to say that every farm should have enough stock to fully utilize such by= products.” This is a principle which applies on all farms. It seems that the farms in the Gallatin Valley have 'a particularly large amount of by-prod- ucts to be utilized as feed for stock. SMALL FARMS DON'T PAY “The size of business is a very ims= portant factor having a bearing on labor incomes to be attained in thig region. The farm that is large enough to employ at least two men through- out the year and to use labor equip- ment to fullest capacity has a distinct advantage over the smaller farm. Very large farms, however, because of the low crop yields and poor utilization of land, have the lowest labor incomes of all. Between 200 and 400 acres appear to be the most satisfactory size for farms in this region.”